Welcome back to Karen’s Corner! Join me here each month to catch up with what I’ve been up to both in and out of work. Can’t wait until next time? Connect with me on Instagram www.instagram.com/karen.anderson.fossoway
Karen xx
SLOWING DOWN TO SPEED UP
I’ve often thought there’s magic to be found in life’s contradictions. Failures, rather than being the antidote to success we worry they are, are often the stepping stones required to achieving it. Our fears, instead of something to avoid are frequently the exact things we should lean into more in order to overcome and become less fearful of them, and in wanting and acquiring more, we can find what we actually need, is less. These incongruities so regularly lead us to growth and the latest one to show up in my life, slowing down to speed up, I’m sure will do the same.
It’s not a matter of simply resting to conserve energy for a busy period ahead, although there’s huge value in that too, but for me this concept means a little more.
I’ve got lots I’d like to achieve in this shiny new year, both personally and professionally, and bags of motivation to go out into the world to make them happen. But at the tail end of 2024, I could feel myself slip into old patterns of over-planning, over-scheduling and piling on the tasks and self-imposed expectations that I know will very quickly lead to burnout. This mental hurriedness, I’ve learned, also increases mistakes which, rather than speed things up, inevitably slow me down. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say it can feel like the more I push for something to happen, the longer and bumpier the road to achieving it can be and what I know to be wholly true is that when I slow down, take a breath between tasks and live with more calmness and ease, I make better decisions, I am far more creative and life is so much more fun. Slowing down to speed up then, is more about creating space for reflection and invention within the daily to do list and finding increased productivity as a result of less haste.
So, with this little bit of self-reflection complete and feeling quietly pleased with myself that I stopped the process of 'living fast' before it had even begun, I packed a little bag of cozy, comfy clothes, my book and my laptop, and headed back up to Mull for a few days of slow with my lovely John at the very start of the year.
If you’ve read the blog for a while, you’ll know that John and I both fell completely in love with Mull last summer and ever since we came home, we couldn’t wait to return. It’s like stepping back in time … the sheep and highland cattle roam freely on the island, the islanders grow their own food and stock up for the winter months, the 4G is sketchy, the local pub has a real community feel where, Cheers style, ‘everybody knows your name’ and you warm your bothy with a wood burning stove. Mull also boasts some of the most rugged, beautiful and inspiring scenery in Scotland and it truly feels like the perfect place to slow down, re-group and set our intentions for the year.
John and I took our few days of serenity seriously by sleeping late, walking on the beach, breathing in the crisp, cold January air, taking time to cook nourishing meals, savouring a glass or 2 of delicious red wine, talking for hours about our hopes, plans and worries, and inventing questionable words on our nightly game of scrabble. I know not everyday can be like these ones but regular resets in Mull, I’m sure, will be a part of our lives forever more.
As is the way when I take time to slow down, be present and read the words of interesting people, I get flooded with ideas and motivation to put them into action. It’s always been very easy for me to get carried away with ideas but as I’ve become older, I’m much more picky about where I choose to direct my energy.
I knew I had the annual Fossoway Stables think-tank meeting with Mum and Dad when I got back from Mull so I put all of my vivacity into preparing for that. Historically, these meetings have been great at aligning ourselves with a vision of the future but we’ve never really been very good at turning the vision into a reality. Too often we’ve become bogged down in the day-to-day, treading-water tasks and fall short of taking enough intentional action on the bigger growth tasks. I knew that none of us wanted that to be the case again this year so we approached our start-of-the-year meeting a little differently this year by setting priorities and timescales for incremental growth. It’s also been the first year I lead this meeting which, personally, felt a significant step in me starting to take ownership of the future of Fossoway Stables.
So many of our plans for Fossoway Stables will be months and years in the making but it’s exciting to get started on these projects that have been sitting on the vision board for, in some cases, years. A few were ready to go straight away though and January has seen the launch of our popular soup sacks being available to order for collection and delivery both locally and nationwide. We’ve also launched the waiting list for our first Easter Holiday Outdoor Activity Camp which will provide a week of adventure, exploration, fun and friendship throughout the estate.
In other news … we have animals in our house again! It wasn’t quite in the plan, we thought Mango and Marshmallow (I didn’t name them!) were going to live in the stables like proper farm cats but the kids were very persuasive and our 2 little 4 month old kittens now sleep on cashmere blankets like the princesses they are!
This weekend is all about Cora’s 13th birthday and what a joy it is to celebrate all that she is!
Until next month …
K xx
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